For the 32nd consecutive year, the NCAA Honors Committee has selected student-athletes who have achieved in competition, in the classroom and in their communities as recipients of the NCAA Today's Top VIII.

The group will be honored at the January 11 Honors Dinner during the 98th annual NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

The 2004 Today's Top VIII are: Alice (Duesing) Nightingale, Lake Superior State University, basketball; Andrew Hilliard, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), football and track and field; Craig Krenzel, Ohio State University, football; Theresa Kulikowski, University of Utah, gymnastics; Kara Lawson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, basketball; Eli Manning, University of Mississippi, football; Kristin Sterner, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, gymnastics; and Leoandra Willis, University of California, Los Angeles, gymnastics.

Basketball

Named the 2003 Division II Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioners Association.

All-time scoring leader at Lake Superior State with 1,933 points.

2003 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball player of the year.

Holds the school record for free-throw percentage; led the team in scoring all four seasons of her career and led the squad in rebounding seasons.

An NCAA Division II Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association and a Division II Daktronics all-American.

NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner, Verizon Academic All-American and a four-time selection to the conference all-academic team.

GLIAC women's scholar-athlete of the year for 2003.

Selected as Lake Superior State's outstanding mechanical engineering graduate and outstanding engineering student-athlete.

Volunteered as a coach for area elementary school girls' basketball teams and with other community agencies, including Head Start and Habitat for Humanity.

Six-time track and field all-American and a four-year starter at wide receiver for the football squad.

Placed in the top five in the 1,600-meter relay at each NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships since 2000.

Four-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion in the 1,600-meter relay and a three-time champion in the 400-meter hurdles; also won the long jump in 2003.

Finished his football career second on the school's career receiving yards list and with two three-touchdown games to his credit.

Verizon Academic All-American of the Year for men's track and field; NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner.

Received 2003 Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award as the male Division III student-athlete of the year.

Volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and the Loaves and Fishes Foodshelf; also volunteered as a weightlifting coach for the Special Olympics and in physical education classes at Bailey Elementary School.

Craig Krenzel

Quarterbacked the Buckeyes to the Big Ten Conference championship and the national championship in 2002 and was recogni zed as the offensive most valuable player of that year's Fiesta Bowl.

Ranks ninth on the school's career passing list; won the Archie Griffin Offensive Player of the Year award in 2002.

Three-time Big Ten Conference all-academic team selection and a second-team Verizon Academic All-American in 2002.

Earned Ohio State's Academic Achievement Award three times and the university's Exceptional Academic Award 11 times.

Named as winner of the Sporting News' Socrates Award.

Served as a speaker at DARE graduations and at local Columbus schools, and volunteered at a food pantry.

Theresa Kulikowski

University of Utah

Gymnastics

1999 and 2000 national collegiate women's gymnastics all-around champion.

Placed third in the balance beam and in the all-around competition at the 2002 national championships.

Voted the 2003 American Athletic, Inc., Senior Athlete of the Year by collegiate coaches as the most outstanding senior female gymnast.

2002-03 Honda Award nominee.

First-team all-American in the uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, vault and the all-around.

A triple major in psychology, exercise science and pre-physical therapy.

NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner and a Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship nominee.

2003 Mountain West Conference Woman Student-Athlete of the Year; Verizon Academic All-American of the Year for all sports; Verizon All-Academic Team Member of the Year in 2002.

Implemented a physical activity program for three months at a low-income elementary school.

Guest speaker at the "Five a Day" nutrition promotional program at the Utah Capitol Building.

Kara Lawson

2003 NCAA Woman of the Year state winner and top 10 finalist.

Finished her career as the Volunteers' all-time leader in three-point field goals made, three-point field goals attempted and free-throw percentage.

2003 College Sports Television Network player of the year; 2003 Frances Pomeroy Naismith award and Wade Trophy finalist in the same year.

Named to the Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association and the United States Basketball Women's Association all-America first teams.

First-team Verizon Academic All-America selection and academic all-Southeastern Conference in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

2003 Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

Southeastern Conference community-service award winner and the University of Tennessee Community Service Athlete of the Year.

Has directed sports clinics for the Girl Scouts and served as a speaker for numerous campus organizations, events and elementary schools.

University of Mississippi

Football

2003 Maxwell Award as the best all-around player in college football; 2003 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner as the top senior quarterback in the nation.

Established 45 single-game, season and career records as the quarterback for the Rebels and led the Southeastern Conference in passing yards per game, completions, touchdown passes, pass efficiency and total offense per game in 2003.

2003 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete award winner; three-time SEC academic honor roll member. Visited senior citizens at the Azalea Gardens, an extended care center in Oxford, Mississippi, since 1999.

Has served as a mentor to kids at the Oxford Learning Center, and for the Lafayette County, Mississippi, Juvenile Justice Program 1999, and he has worked with kids at area day care centers.

Gymnastics

2003 NCAA Woman of the Year state winner and top 10 finalist.

Led the Crimson Tide to the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships team title in 2002; also helped Alabama capture Southeastern Conference championship crowns in 2000 and 2003.

Finished sixth on the balance beam at the 2003 national championships and was a first-team all-American on the balance beam and uneven bars.

2003 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner; SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

SEC Boyd McWhorter Scholarship recipient; first-team Verizon Academic All-American.

Named as the school's women's scholar-athlete of the year for 2002-03.

Member of Beta Beta Beta, a biology honorary, and of the McCollough Medial Scholars Forum and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Helped serve food to the homeless at a Salvation Army soup kitchen; also read and spoke to sixth graders at a local middle school.

Leoandra Willis

Gymnastics

School record-holder in the vault and floor exercise; helped lead UCLA to national championships in 2001 and 2003.

2003 Pacific-10 Conference gymnast of the year; conference champion in the all-around and co-champion in uneven bars in 2002.

Helped UCLA win three conference championships; was the 2000 UCLA co-rookie of the year.

2003 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner and Honda Award honoree.

2003 recipient of the Jill Andrews Award as the student-athlete who best represents integrity in all aspects of her life.

Won the Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar award in 2002-03 and was named to the Pacific-10 all-academic first team in addition to being named as a National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches Scholastic all-American.

Participated in the "I'm Going to College" program by giving tours to inner-city children and escorting them to sporting events.

Volunteer for the Bruins for Relief effort, which gathered donations at football games to provide scholarship money for children of September 11 victims.